Touted as UK’s next ‘It’ band back in 2009, The Vaccines were hyped like there was no tomorrow.
The London quartet have been touring relentlessly off the back of one very simple, yet crazily addictive debut pop album that barely reaches half-an-hour in length; but for the first time in a long time, drummer Pete Robertson is back home, smack bang in the middle of the London 2012 Olympics.
“We timed it well, didn’t we?!” Robertson chuckles, “I’m not paying too much attention to the Olympics to be honest, I’ve got no idea what’s going on!”
A couple of weeks out from the release of The Vaccines’ sophomore LP effort, (The Vaccines) Come Of Age, the drummer settles in comfortably for a chat about changing people’s perceptions, feeling like The Beatles and just why Australia played a pivotal part in the creation of the new album.
“We were keen to branch out a little more to show people that The Vaccines were a bit more than a 4-4 tempo and 3 chord tricks,” explains the drummer. “Don’t get me wrong, we’re pleased our debut sounds like a debut; that young and new vibrant band kind of sound. It’s not particularly revolutionary but it never was supposed to be.”
After touring the country for the second time in as many years earlier in 2012 for Big Day Out, The Vaccines treated Australian audiences to two previously unreleased singles: “No Hope” and “Teenage Icon”.
After becoming sunburnt on stage during their early afternoon slot at Splendour in the Grass 2011, then being drenched in sweat within minutes of playing their sets at Big Day Out; how will the English lads face their third festival in Australia’s hot and often unforgiving summer? With the band set to play both Falls Festival legs over New Year’s.
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“Actually, we’ve managed to avoid the British wintertime all together this year! Starting with you guys, we then went back through south-east Asia, ended up in America doing Coachella and went on to Brazil. So we’ve been training ourselves, which is definitely a good thing!” Robertson laughs once more.
“We’ve just been having the best time [this year]. Even in Asia, it was nothing like what we expected. We thought we’d be playing these tiny little clubs ‘cause we couldn’t imagine anyone would have heard us before but we ended up in Taipei playing in front of 1,500 people!” Robertson reflects incredulously, even now.
He continues, “It was insane, just really overwhelming for us. People were waiting for us at airports with presents. Man, we felt like The Beatles!”
Although the extreme worldwide success of their first album was another unexpected surprise for the young musicians, Robertson assures that the second release is, “a step forward. We’re very proud of it. We’ve really improved as a band, as songwriters and generally as record makers. I think in a way we were restraining ourselves creatively [on the debut] but this time round we opened the doors a little bit. If anything, we’re being more ourselves on this one.”
The drummer elaborates on his thoughts, “on the last record, we were reaching out and looking directly at being referential. We were listening to a lot of records in the studio and very openly borrowing ideas from people, from our favourite records.”
Indeed, you could barely go reading a paragraph about The Vaccines from early articles without a Jesus and Mary Chain alignment thrown in. So what’s different the second time round?
“The writing process sort of started really quickly after the first record. Interestingly, though, Big Day Out was a bit of a turning point for us. Because it’s a chilled schedule, you know five shows in three weeks or so, we found ourselves with so many days off in Sydney or Melbourne and really just got stuck into it.”
The band ended up hiring a room in Melbourne for a few days, where they wrote and arranged a number of songs before rather suddenly realising they had more than enough material to make a record with.
“We went straight to the label, told them we wanted to start recording as soon as possible and then had our first session in March in Brussels and we were done by June in Somerset [England]!” Robertson exclaims with more pleasant surprise, as if the realisation had sunk in just now.
After naming their first album after the media hype they were surrounded by (What Did You Expect from [The Vaccines]?) with tongues firmly placed in cheeks, have the four music makers from London really come of age as their second album title suggests? The percussionist chuckles mischievously.
“We’re kinda taking the piss a little bit again. We initially thought, ‘No we probably can’t do that’, because it’s a bit corny and that’s not we wanted it but we did want to do the same with the second record name,” Robertson says before justifying the title name as “a reference to single ‘No Hope’ more than anything else.”
But he hopes any initial corniness some listeners may derive from the album title is replaced with what the band are really trying to get across. “Rather than saying we have come of age, we’re saying it’s actually a struggle to come of age. At the heart of things, everyone’s just trying to disguise the fact that they’re really a bit of an awkward teenager.”
“It doesn’t ever get any easier, does it?” he goes on to ask. “If you’re supposed to have come of age then how come you don’t feel any different? I don’t particularly feel grown up, I still feel like an awkward teenager sometimes and I’m 27 now! I don’t know when that’s ever going to change!”
(The Vaccines) Come Of Age is out now through Sony. The Vaccines play Falls Festival in Lorne and Marion Bay over New Year’s. Full dates and details here.
